NEWS

We should not allow the extreme populist and nationalist messages to gain ground. The fragmentation of Europe serves neither the European countries’ nor European citizens’ interests. This is what Head of State Rosen Pleveneliev said at a meeting with Christa Malkwalder, President of the National Council of Parliament of the Confederation of Switzerland, who is on an official visit to Bulgaria. 2016 marks the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the diplomatic relations between the two countries.  

 

President Plevneliev thanked for Switzerland’s support for Bulgaria’s Schengen accession and once again called on for a shared responsibility and joint actions to cope with the strong migration pressure toward Europe. “The European countries cannot resolve this issue by shifting the responsibility from one country to another, or by transporting the migrants to their neighbors’ borders,” Rosen Plevneliev said. The Head of State was adamant that the EU should draw a distinction between the people who are escaping from the military conflicts to save their lives and the economic migrants.    

 

Bulgaria hopes that an Agreement on institutional issues will be signed between the EU and Switzerland, which will outline the general framework of the mutual relationships. At the same time the President highlighted the importance of the free movement of people, which embodies one of the fundamental EU principles and lies at the basis of the Internal EU market.

 

Attracting new Swiss investments to the Bulgarian economy and increasing the trade are Bulgaria’s priority, President Plevneliev further highlighted at the meeting. In the past 20 years the foreign direct investments from Switzerland to Bulgaria have exceeded 1.7 billion euros, as a result of which Bulgaria ranks third along this indicator. A growing number of Swiss companies show an interest in investments in Bulgaria, and a lot of joint economic forums and bilateral top-level visits took place in the past, as a result of which the relations between the two countries have reached a higher level.    

 

Machine-building, car industry, electronics, food production, as well as the ICT sector and outsourcing were highlighted as particularly perspective sectors in the bilateral economic partnership. Since 1 June 2016 the Swiss labor market has been open for Bulgarian citizens and, in the President’s words, this also gives an impetus to the bilateral trade.

 

Christa Malkwalder confirmed Switzerland’s willingness to deepen the trade relations with Bulgaria and highlighted the financial discipline policy the country is pursuing. “This contributes to preserving the stability of the business environment of high investments and increases Bulgaria’s competitiveness,” she emphasized. Christa Malkwalder also highlighted the cooperation between Bulgarian and Swiss institutions in the justice and fight against corruption sectors, which is particularly important to Switzerland and has to be further developed.    

At the meeting the Head of State also voiced gratitude for the Swiss expertise provided for introducing dual education in Bulgaria as “an instrument which has a long-term effect in reducing youth unemployment.” “The dual system of education and training will facilitate the creation of specialists which will meet the needs of the real economy and this will be a clear message to the investors,” President Rosen Plevneliev further said.  A bilateral agreement on establishing a thematic fund for implementing the principles of dual education in the Bulgarian education system was signed in April 2015 in Sofia,” and this fund received financial aid worth 3,5 million Swiss francs. 

 

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